Creativity Linked to Mental Illness, Study Confirms

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Creative types are thought to be more likely to suffer from
mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. A
new large-scale study of the Swedish population helps confirm
this link.

Last year, researchers at the Karolinska Institutet near
Stockholm found that families with a
history of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia were more
likely to produce artists and scientists. They built on this
evidence in a new study, published this month in the Journal of
Psychiatric Research, which covers a larger population sample and
a wider scope of psychiatric diagnoses.

The researchers used 40-years' worth of data from Sweden's health
registry, looking at the anonymous records of almost 1.2 million
patients and their relatives. They found certain mental illness —
in particular bipolar disorder — are more common among artists
and scientists, from dancers and photographers to researchers and
authors.

Writers specifically were more likely to be diagnosed with
schizophrenia, depression, anxiety and substance abuse, and they
were almost 50 percent more likely to commit suicide than the
general population, the study found.

Creative
types also were more likely to have family members being
treated for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anorexia and autism.

"If one takes the view that certain phenomena associated with the
patient's illness are beneficial, it opens the way for a new
approach to treatment," Kyaga explained in a statement. "In that
case, the doctor and patient must come to an agreement on what is
to be treated, and at what cost."

In a British study earlier this year, some people with bipolar
disorder said the condition had
affected their lives in positive ways, amplifying their
internal experiences and enhancing their access to music and art.